This invention relations to a transmission and clutch assembly which are primarily used on stock race cars.
Typically, manual transmissions have more than one shaft which are engaged by clutches that are slidable upon the shafts when the gears are being shifted.
One known prior art is a MANUAL TRANSMISSION OF A MOTOR VEHICLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,665, which comprises an input and an output shaft, transmission gears situated between the two shafts, and a pair of synchronizer clutches which have sleeves that slide upon the shafts when the transmission is being shifted.
Another known prior art is a GEARBOX COUNTERSHAFT DECOUPLER, U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,703, which comprises an input shaft with an input gear freely rotatably thereabout, an output shaft with a plurality of output gears mounted thereupon and a countershaft with a countershaft input gear and further comprises selective coupling and decoupling mechanism for eliminating the driving of the countershaft and the change-speed gears thereon when the gearbox is in a direct drive mode.
None of the prior art discloses a transmission and clutch assembly having a slidable split shaft which allows the user to reduce substantially the rotating weight of the transmission shaft when in direct drive speed mode.